Training at the Olympic Venue
To end off the summer, I headed to Marseille with the other top sailors to do some training at the Olympic Venue.
This venue is something else. I have never sailed in a place so unique, interesting, and beautiful. Some days you get a strong sea breeze known as the Mistral, which brings 18-20+ knots and big swell. Other days you get a light, volatile 6-7 knots and flat water. Sometimes you can even have both at the same time depending on where you are in the bay. In my opinion, it is the perfect place to host Olympic sailing as it won’t just test sailors physical ability, but also their ability to perform in the mental chess match that is a sailing race.
To be at the exact place at the exact time the Olympics will be held in two years felt really special. One of the coolest parts was how we sailed out of the US Olympic Sailing Base. US Sailing is quite particular with who they allow to train out of the Olympic base, so to be chosen to go and allowed to use the facilities was truly an honor. Not to mention, the US has by far one of the best bases in Marseille out of any of the other countries. I was filled with pride to represent Team USA.
Training in Marseille was some of the most intense I have ever done. Out of the 12 days we were there, we sailed for 11 of them. At this current stage, effective training usually is 4-5 days on with one day off with the limitation being physical and mental exhaustion. If you train when you’re exhausted, your technique degrades and practicing bad technique is worse than not practicing at all. We are always seeking to push this further to improve stamina and efficiency of training when we travel, so we did 8 days on, 1 day off, then 3 days on again, burning in between 800-900 calories per hour on the water.
Days 5-8 we participated in a coaches regatta which was limited to only the top 50 sailors in the world and the US did extremely well. After day 3 of the event I was in 15th. By the end of the event (and 8 days straight of training) we were exhausted, but pushing our physical and mental limits is extremely important, so even if we sacrificed some performance in the coaches regatta, it was well worth the gain of endurance in the long run of the Olympic cycle.
The trip to Marseille was the cherry on the cake for my amazing summer. If you would have asked me last year what I would be doing summer of 2022, I would have never guessed I would have travelled to 3 different countries and two different states all in the span of 4 months. None of this would be possible without the continued support of everybody. I am so grateful to everybody who has helped me live out this dream, and I am excited to keep pushing America to be one of the top sailing countries in the world.
Now, it is time to finish out school, and train hard leading into the World Championship in October.
All the best
Noah Lyons
USA-6
